THE FLASH:  THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #11

Full Throttle, Part 3:  Storm Front

June 2007

Written by March Guggenheim

Pencils by Tony Daniel

Inks by Art Thibert

Cover by Ethan Van Sciver

Synopsis

Bart Allen (aka the Flash) has just been attacked by Zoom in connection with Iris Allen, Bart’s grandmother.  Bart is able to take down Zoom and then confronts his grandmother on why she would attack him.  She claims she did it to protect him from upcoming events.  Bart tells her he can take care of himself and then gets her to tell him what is supposed to happen.  Meanwhile, Inertia continues to contact each of the rogues with the offer to do something no one has ever done before.  Later, Bart Allen is returning to class at the police academy when he spots Valerie.  She apologizes for their fight and wants to try again, but knowing what is about to happen, Bart turns her down.  Afterward, Bart is questioned by two detectives about the attack from Steppenwolf and what Bart was hiding in his locker.  Bart can’t tell them which angers the detectives.  Suddenly, news of the Rogues attack reaches Bart and realizes the time is now.  He tries to leave, but the detectives stop him and put him under arrest.  Bart realizes there is only one thing to do:  he tells them he is the Flash. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

That is one helluva cliffhanger.  Sadly, it feels too much like (once again) editorial is doing their damnedest to make Bart into a clone of Wally, who spent a long time as one of the super heroes whose identity was widely known.  This idea of Bart being Wally is reinforced by the presence of Valerie, Bart’s on-again, off-again girlfriend who easily becomes the stand-in for Linda Park, Wally’s eventual wife.  I personally think this is the wrong way to go; Bart is Bart and should not be fitted to match the core concepts that worked so well with Wally.  One of the unique things about one hero replacing another is that they are different, not only in terms of abilities but also in terms of their personalities. 

Otherwise, this is another good issue from Guggenheim and new penciler Tony Daniel.  Guggenheim has managed to bring back a lot of the elements that make a Flash book the Flash, including most of the rogues (I don’t see the Trickster, either the young or older version), the Reverse-Flash or Zoom, and even Iris, his grandmother and Barry’s wife.  All of this stuff is coming together in an exciting story with plenty of action, but like I said before, Guggenheim needs to find the right spin on it to make it a Bart story rather than just a Flash story. 

My only other complaint was that it seemed extremely strange that the rogues would be listening to a teenager, even if he could run fast and was from the future.  Captain Cold is not one to take orders from someone half his age.  While this odd situation was addressed, but unfortunately it was done in Teen Titans, issue #46, when Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke) offers to help Inertia gain some credibility with the Rogues so they will listen to him.  I think the Flash book would benefit from repeating that scene, or something similar, to strengthen why the rogues would listen to Inertia. 

I am also still waiting for the explanation on why the Pied Piper has gone back to his old criminal self, rather than the reformed self.  Or did the crisis remove that from continuity? 

Rogue:  1) a wander beggar or tramp, vagabond; 2) a rascal, scoundrel; 3) a fun-loving, mischievous person, 4) an elephant or another animal that wanders apart from the her and is fierce and wild, 5) a individual varying markedly from the standard, esp. an inferior one

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